Just Me

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Ever since Walking Dead, Train to Busan and Kingdom, the one thing I have been really looking forward to was an Indian Zombie series. Horror genre in India is starting to take a new shape, (hats off to Ghoul, Tumbaad ) and one thing that would have made it more global is the inclusion of zombies... which may be a foreign concept, but why not? Having said that, let’s come to the plot of Betaal. The good things- it just doesn’t revolve around zombies and gore, it also highlights some social issues, the disparity of wealth and greed that makes the living more dangerous than the dead. A government that would willingly sacrifice the poor for the rich. Patriotism twisted to suite an alternative reality that justifies the killing of innocent for the benefits of higher up. The consequences of our choices and how we have to live with it. The bad things - There were many many many moral and ethical questions raised while during the course of the entire series, but none quite answered... They graze over the subjects but don’t give the answers. (Or May be the writers knew that just like in real world no one really cares about these issues, just sweep’em under the carpet) It sort of felt they used these conundrums as some kind of plot enhancers to not just focus on the zombie problem and so many plot holes. The minor characters are mostly single dimensional. They have been given one line and they repeat the same thing over and over unless some one barks, ”dude, shut up!” There are no layers in their characters... and yes they could have enhanced these characters a lot!!! I am actually disappointed that they completely under-utilised Suchitra Pillai. The woman is a fantastic actor and she is just wasted after the first episode. Coming to the lead characters, The Hero - Vineet Singh, does a good job in portraying a soldier who is fighting his own trauma and ethical issues, his acting is good but not enough to make you connected to the role. The Villain - why are all villains just one dimensional! Nothing against the actor.. he does as always fantastic job on the script.. but the character is just so underdeveloped. From the first scene itself you know what you are dealing with... and seriously you don’t see any surprises coming when he does whatever he does. One character who stood out the best is Puniya. The actress is beyond fantastic! She is a chameleon. My god! She embodies the character like no one else. For a moment I was convinced she is an actual tribal woman. The zombies- Worst Makeup! Worst CGI! No element of surprise! No Horror! Nothing bone chilling! The very USP of the series is a complete dud! So very very very disappointed with that. The Action sequence - these are done fairly well, but seriously the action direction needs to be really improved with more plausible fight sequences. In closing words, I give this series 2 stars just for Puniya, and nothing else. Second season? - Please bring in better writers, and some better CGI/makeup techniques.